Medical XR: From Experimentation to Practical Reality

Zoom & YouTube
Laura Kusumoto, Advisor & Principal Consultant, IterationZero

Abstract:
Extended reality (XR) for healthcare has been “just around the corner” for more than two decades. Yet beneath the hype cycles, a substantial body of engineering, clinical validation, and enterprise deployment has been steadily maturing around viable use cases.
Immersive technologies like AR and VR have demonstrated measurable impact across mental health, pain management, speech therapy, rehabilitation, surgical planning, medical education, and more. Pilot programs show engagement. Clinical studies demonstrate efficacy. And yet, mainstream adoption remains limited.
In this talk, Laura Kusumoto traces the broader evolution of medical XR—from early research systems built under severe real-time and hardware constraints, to today’s applications running on industrial and consumer off-the-shelf platforms. Landmark developments in the field will be highlighted alongside examples from Laura’s hands-on work, including avatar-based military medical simulations, emergency response training, nurse education research, enterprise VR pilots, and large-scale healthcare adoption initiatives.
Through historical perspective and practical case studies, this presentation will examine:
● How immersive technologies offer unique solutions
● Engineering constraints unique to medical XR
● Where realism matters (and where it doesn’t)
● Lessons learned from scaling beyond pilot programs to thousands of users
● Security, regulatory, and EHR integration realities

Finally, the talk will look forward. How are medical XR developers and healthcare systems navigating the volatility of today’s VR/AR marketplace? What new opportunities and unsolved technical challenges are emerging? Where does AI meaningfully augment XR—and where does XR reshape how AI is experienced in care delivery?
Medical XR is no longer experimental. The question is not whether immersive systems can work in healthcare, but how we design them to integrate into clinical workflows, meet regulatory and safety standards, and scale in ways that are sustainable, cost-effective, and clinically responsible.
https://www.iterationzero.io/

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Bio:
Laura Kusumoto is a technology and innovation leader whose career spans spatial computing, enterprise innovation, and digital health. Her early work with Forterra Systems advanced multi-user, networked virtual environments for military and medical simulation—pioneering applications of interactive 3D graphics for training and collaboration. Later, providing innovation services at Kaiser Permanente, she developed processes for vetting and promoting new digital health tech offerings, supporting the best in class for adoption in POCs and piloting.
Laura has led emerging technology initiatives in Meta, Deloitte, Disney, LEGO, Intuit, and the U.S. Veterans Administration, defining frameworks to assess and scale AR, VR, and AI solutions in complex organizations. Today with IterationZero, Laura bridges enterprises and startups developing AI-powered immersive platforms for health and well-being.
Laura serves on the boards of the Virtual World Society and XR Women Global, and on the Advisory Board of the International Virtual Reality in Healthcare Association (IVRHA).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurakusumoto/